Mizoritë e Ushtrisë Serbe në Rajonin e Astrazubit më 1914
The Cruelty exercised by the Serbian Military in the Region of Astrazubi in 1914

Summary/Abstract: Astrazubi is located in the southwestern region of the municipality of Malishevë, sur-rounding the axis Malishevë - Rahovec. During the period of the Ottoman reign, the administrative unit of the northern herald of Astrazubi existed within the realms of Priz-ren, which is why the contemporary sources of the time refer to it within the geograph-ical frames of the latter. The Albanians inhabiting the region, as well as the ones in the surrounding areas, could not come to terms with the foreign occupation, annexation and leadership of the Serbian Kingdom, and they could tolerate even less so the sys-tematic violence exerted towards them by the forces in power. It is generally accepted that the main reason as to why the locals revolted was to liberate these regions from the foreign Serbian-Montenegrin occupation and to unify the lands with Albania proper. According to documentary sources, it has been concluded that from 1380 houses built within the fringes of Astrazubi, 90% of those (1029) were burned down, whereas the number of victims appears to be 227, however taking into account the lack of sources regarding the matter, it can be assumed that the number of victims is much higher than the one provided, particularly when considering the magnitude of violence present in the battles between the Albanian insurgents and the Serbian military. Among the vic-tims there were women and children, whereas some cases documented in the village of Banjë, inform us that the wounded ones were buried alive. In the majority of these villages, the women and maidens were raped by the Serbian military. The unprotected families, including the elders, women and children, had fled their homes and managed to find refuge in the neighboring villages among their relatives. The remaining number of those fleeing had found refuge in the mountains. A destructive role in the develop-ment of these events was played by the Serbian minority on the rise, whose function was the colonization of Kosova, as well as to pillage and cause havoc within the Alba-nian villages. In such circumstances, the local Albanian population was defenseless in regards to organizing an uprising of large proportions when facing the Serbian military machinery, and even less so equipped to make strong resistance against the latter, which resistance would shaken the European chancelleries and convince them that the Serbian military and government forces were dedicated to cease any possible Al-banian resistance, even in the occasion when the Albanians were planning no such resistance.

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